US Supreme Court rejects Apple ebook price-fixing appeal

The US Supreme Court has rejected Apple’s appeal in its ebook price-fixing case, reports Publisher’s Weekly. The denial effectively ends the case and upholds Judge Denise Cote’s 2013 finding that Apple conspired with HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Hachette to fix ebook prices when it launched its iBookstore in the US in 2010. A 2015 decision by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals also affirmed Cote’s ruling. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, Apple had filed a petition to the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, claiming that its agreements should be considered under a ‘rule of reason framework’ rather than a ‘per se’ case, as Judge Cote had found. A ‘per se’ case requires the US Department of Justice to prove only that price-fixing occurred, and that this is presumed to be anti-competitive without taking into account pro-competitive effects. The Supreme Court has rejected the argument without comment. As per the settlement conditions granted in 2014, Apple must now refund customers US$400m (A$536m), as well as pay some US$50m (A$67m) in fees and attorney costs.